Toyota Antics

As My Morning Jacket embarks on a summer tour, guitarist Carl Broemel has a surprise in store for fans. Along with friends, MMJ keyboardist Bo Koster and Broemel's father (a classically trained musician in his own right), Broemel is releasing a solo album, All Birds Say, on August 31 via ATO Records. But have no fear MMJ fans, Broemel has no intention of leaving the band: this album is a collection of work done during his time living in Nashville while on various breaks. Recently, Broemel took time to chat with FILTER about how the album came together, how he writes his songs and about the possibility of MMJ incorporating his solo material into its sets. [And stay tuned for FILTER's interview with MMJ drummer Patrick Hallahan tomorrow.]


When did you decide to write material for you own album?

Carl Broemel: I’ve always written songs and I’ve always sort of been working on stuff, no matter what other kind of musical stuff I was doing, like laying it down on a laptop. When I moved to Nashville, I had a couple of people that helped me get some legitimate recordings and it’s come together over the past four years. I finally got most of 'em done and friends said, "You should put this out!" so I said, "Alright, I’d love that" and that’s how it came together.

It took about four years to collect all the material. Was the process more a "work in progress" way of working or did you think that certain songs would make the cut at some point while others wouldn’t?

I kinda would just do them as I wrote them. “Carried Away” was the first one that we recorded. Then six months later we went in and did another song. I have a few friends here in Nashville and we were jamming in my friend's studio, which is actually in his garage. We’d go there, jam and record a song. It wasn’t like we were officially making an album; we were just kind of recording songs. I had like five or six songs I thought were cool and then I found out my wife was pregnant and it was sort of like, "Well, I might as well finish the whole record now [May 2009] before he's born." So I booked time and finished the second half of the record. And now it’s done!

The lyrics seem very personal and introspective. What were some of the themes of the album?

I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t know what “Carried Away” is about necessarily; it’s a more general song [laughs]. But I think it’s pretty easy to understand. On “Retired,” I was sort of thinking about my parents and their lives and what that’s like. They’re divorced and have been for a long time and have lived separate lives. So it’s about being retired from the two perspectives. I write a lot of songs at night when everyone’s gone to bed.

Sometimes the best creative energy comes when there’s nobody else around. Is that what it's like for you?

That sounds about right. It just took so long and there were never any deadlines for any of the music so I never felt I had to put anything there that I didn’t want. I had so much time to think through because I’ll write five or six things and sometimes there won’t be a solid one. I think I had to spend this time filtering out what I considered to be my best material. Hopefully it won’t take me that long to do another one.

What were the other differences between making this album and a My Morning Jacket album?

We have a schedule for a MMJ record. I didn’t really think about the process so much on my record and I didn’t think of it as making a record until I got two-thirds of the way through it and I was like, "Fuck it, I’m gonna finish this." When the band is going in to record, the mentality is, "We are going to do this right now." The MMJ process is relaxed, since we take control of the schedule and know what to do.

Do you plan on having the band play any of your solo material at the upcoming shows?

We might do “Carried Away,” depending on how we feel. We’re all trying to support each other and encourage everyone to do what we do separately as well, and not feel like a collective in a way. We play Monsters of Folk songs and when Jim puts out a solo record, I’d love to play it live.  F